Thr Lab 12 and Border Patrol both use the Philips TDA1543 chips
which tube dac? Lab 12 vs Line Magnetic vs Borderpatrol?
trying to add some tube magic to my system, seeking as tube-ey as sound as possible
the 3 dacs in question are all around the same price to my door
Line Magnetic seems to offer rectification, is that important?
Borderpatrol does not have XLRS so small negative for me there
thanks in advance
Showing 3 responses by oddiofyl
I have the Lab 12 DAC 1 Reference. It's a great sounding DAC. I bought it with a 1 year trade up to something 2X the cost but I knew early in that I wasn't going to do that. I've had it three years , about 6 or 8 months ago I replaced the stock tubes with some mid 70's Refektor tubes. A friend has the Border Patrol. He is a hard core vinyl guy and that's what he uses. It is unlikely that any Lab 12 DAC you see will have true balanced XLR. The stock unit has XLR jacks but they are wired in parallel with the RCA. I used them with a balanced pre to try that connection and it sounded great, just not a true XLR. You can special order it with true balanced out but it is a $700 option.
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https://pt.audio/2023/03/12/lab12-dac1-review/ It's a.so been on PTA Best of Digital three years in a row. 2023, 24, 25. Best product list 2023. Guttenberg loved it in his You Tube review. Really great sounding DAC. |